Strategy: Monitoring Security in Cloud Environments

Michael Cobb09/02/13

One of the major reasons enterprises have been hesitant to embrace cloud computing technologies is a lack of visibility. Enterprises need ways to track their data as it travels or is stored in the cloud, as well as a way to ensure that their data is safe in a shared ­infrastructure.

To benefit from cloud computing and minimize risks to your organization's data, several key components are required: visibility across infrastructures and applications, isolation of critical services, and regularly audited automated processes for threat detection and mitigation. Working closely with cloud providers, administrators can deliver accountability and audit trails for data events in and out of the cloud so enterprises know exactly what is happening with their data. Cloud providers will have their own monitoring tools to track the performance, continuity and security of all of the components that support service delivery, but organizations must invest in their own systems to monitor physical, virtual and cloud environments. Responsibility for security and monitoring of data critical to daily business operations is ultimately your responsibility, not the provider's.

In this Dark Reading report, we examine tools and practices that enterprises can use to monitor the security of cloud environments and receive notifications when their data might be at risk.